A simple daily boule of flour, yeast, water, and salt. Start the night before, then bake around lunch. 🥖

Ingredients

For the starter

• 30g whole wheat flour
• 150g bread flour
• A rounded half teaspoon of active dry yeast
• 1 cup of warm water (about 100°F)

For the dough

• 390g + 30g bread flour
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons of very warm water (about 115°F)
• 1 scant tablespoon of sugar
• 0.75 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1 rounded tablespoon kosher salt (or half as much table salt)
• All of the starter
• Semolina flour, for dusting

Directions

Starter (night before or morning the day before)

1. Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl.
2. Cover with plastic wrap and stab a small hole or two in the wrap. Place the bowl on the warming pad overnight.

Dough (morning of or evening the day before)

1. Mix the starter and all of the ingredients together, save for the 30g of flour.
2. Rest the dough for 10-15 minutes.
3. Knead with the dough hook on “stir” for another 10 minutes or so, adding the 30g of flour (up to 90g) until a cohesive and sticky dough forms. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and stab a small hole or two in the wrap. Place bowl on the warming pad until the dough doubles in size, approximately 1.5 hours. Alternatively, allow to rise overnight in the refrigerator and take the dough out to warm up. Shape once it’s at room temperature and you’re ready to preheat the oven.

To bake

1. Place a baking steel or stone in the bottom rack of the oven. Preheat oven to 500°F.
2. Meanwhile, take the dough and gently form into a boule. Dust the working surface and the dough ball liberally with semolina flour as you go to manage the sticky dough.
3. Line a large-ish bowl with parchment paper and place the dough in seam down. Dust the top and cover gently with plastic wrap. Place bowl on top of warming tray while oven preheats. It should rise about half again as much in volume while waiting on the oven.
4. Fill a quarter sheet about a third of the way up with water. Set aside.
5. Remove the plastic wrap, then lift the parchment paper onto a half sheet. Slash the top of the dough, then place it on the middle oven rack. Place the sheet of water beneath it, directly on top of the baking steel.
6. Lower the temperature to 450°F and bake for 25 minutes.
7. Allow to rest for an hour or so for the crumb to set properly before cutting.

Notes

• Yields one ~2 pound loaf
• Adapted to 6000’ elevation and use of a dough warming pad from the King Arthur Baking Company recipe for French-style country bread
• To extend the timeline, make the starter in the morning and let the first dough rise happen in the fridge overnight. Allowing time for the dough to warm means shaping it around lunch and baking it in time for dinner.
• Everything is sequenced to hold the oven at temp for at least an hour before baking because it takes forever for the steel to hold heat.